At this past week’s RDK User Conference in Denver, platinum sponsor ARRIS not only demonstrated a range of RDK-enabled hardware and software solutions, but also its commitment to RDK advancement through its many significant contributions to the industry.

The product exhibition included ARRIS’s TG16282 DOCSIS Wireless Gateway device, which is the first such device enabled to support RDK-B. RDK Management also announced that it will be using ARRIS coding to add support for the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard that is widely deployed internationally.

This code was successfully run during the conference on an ARRIS DCX3620 DVB RDK-enabled Gateway, and is crucial to extending the RDK’s applicability for use in DVB markets, as well as making RDK more easily adoptable in global markets.

With RDK quickly becoming a crucial component to service providers’ ability to more rapidly and economically deploy next generation CPE product, ARRIS is well-positioned as a key enabler of the first wave of RDK deployments worldwide.

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As we continue to celebrate National Engineers Week, we interviewed Jack Birnbaum, VP of Video Control and Security at Comcast about his inspiration to become an engineer. Read below for the full interview.

What inspired you to become an engineer?

I like to solve problems and create things. I was always interested in figuring out how things worked. I had always been strong in math and science and was looking for a practical way to apply those skills. Initially, I became interested in bio-medical engineering. I was enamored with the idea that I could create solutions that would help people improve their health. When I was in college, this field was mostly research-oriented, so I moved to computer engineering.

What does a day in the life of an engineer at Comcast look like?

The day in the life of the Comcast engineer has changed much in most recent times. These days, we work in an agile development environment. The engineers typically start their day with a 15-minute scrum, discussing activities completed, challenges encountered and commitments for the next day. They collaborate to assist one another to achieve the team goals. The engineers then move off to their development work. Many times the engineers work in team areas so there is free flow of communication and collaboration.

On any day, an engineer may be called upon to perform demos of their work to product and business folks. They may also be engaged in planning and evaluation of new projects.

Finally, since our teams are development- and operations-oriented, our engineers are often involved in monitoring the performance of our services with the goal of improving the customer experience. If problems occur, they are counted on to work closely with our technical field personnel to analyze and resolve system issues.

At Comcast, we try to create an exciting environment for our engineers. We have challenging projects that solve complex problems at a large scale. We have innovation programs that challenge engineers to develop new concepts, some leading to Patent awards, some leading to new products and services. We also consciously allocate time to encourage folks to develop new ideas or learn new skills.

How do you collaborate with ARRIS engineers to solve industry challenges?

Comcast has a long-standing partnership with ARRIS in developing solutions in the video space. We work closely together to develop new products and solutions in the ever-changing video space. As new technologies emerge, we look to our strong partners to help us determine solutions that meet the needs, are economically feasible and can deliver service with high quality. With ARRIS, we have a partner with expertise in technology, integration and services. Each of these areas is key to Comcast in delivering solutions that delight our customers.

What are the most common challenges that engineers in our industry face?

I think the most common challenge that we face is change. The industry is changing with new and different competitors. The technology is changing with innovations in processing, storage, and networking. Our customers’ expectations are changing as well. There is a desire for more capabilities in more places. What used to be video delivered to the TV is now video delivered to many devices, some in the home and some out of home. There is a need to always be connected, which creates challenges to make sure that those connections are functional and secure. There is a need to make sure all of the video content is displayed with high quality on many new devices.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone told you when you were pursuing a career in engineering?

The most successful engineers are flexible. In this field, an engineer must be able to work with ambiguity. Problems are not provided with all of the information needed and a path to a solution. The engineer needs to be able to work with little information, discover the real problems to solve and create solutions. When one adds the needs of the business, the engineer must be willing to change directions very quickly and continue to push toward the best solutions for our customers and our shareholders.

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As we continue to celebrate Engineers Week, we took some time to interview Jay Ferchoff, Technology Specialist at MTS Allstream, a telecommunications carrier in the Canadian province of Manitoba, about his inspiration to become an engineer and how he collaborates with ARRIS to solve industry challenges. Take a read below.

What inspired you to become an engineer?

My father is an engineer, and I always enjoyed hearing about the challenging and engaging projects on which he worked. It was easy to tell that he found his job thoroughly enjoyable, and he would often talk about how rewarding it was to see a project go from conception all the way to implementation. My older brother is also an engineer, and I was always interested to hear about his university lab projects while I was in high school. I guess you could say that engineering is the family business, but it didn’t hurt that I enjoyed math, physics, and computer science in school, and I knew I wanted to pursue a career related to those fields.

What does a day in the life of an engineer at MTS look like?

Engineers at MTS work on a very wide breadth of projects due to the complexity of our network. Engineers can, among other things, design configuration for core networking equipment, develop and test firmware for modems and TV set-top boxes, or build large-scale systems to automatically manage and collect data from our networks. Engineers working on these projects at MTS operate in large project teams. This allows for day-to-day collaboration with engineers working on other areas of the network to ensure that all of their solutions can operate together harmoniously, as well as collaboration with other departments in the company such as the operational staff that will support the solutions after they have been implemented.

How do you collaborate with ARRIS engineers to solve industry challenges

Collaboration between ARRIS and MTS engineers is valuable, because we each provide a different perspective on the industry. ARRIS can provide MTS with information on how other telecom companies are using their products and solutions, and therefore make valuable suggestions and recommendations to MTS. In turn, MTS can provide information to ARRIS on what impact their solutions ultimately have on the end consumers of telecom services and how ARRIS’s solutions could be modified and improved based upon these impacts. We’ve utilized this approach with many ARRIS solutions in the past in order to maximize the quality of service that we at MTS ultimately deliver to our customers.

What are the most common challenges that engineers in our industry face?

One of the most common challenges is striking a balance between keeping up with rapid changes in technology and ensuring that sufficient time and effort are dedicated to launching a quality product or service. There is often pressure to release products quickly because of a relatively short time to obsolescence, and also because of heavy competition in the industry, so engineers must be able to walk the line between over-testing/over-engineering and rushing products to market before they’re ready.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone told you when you were pursuing a career in engineering?

Understanding the business and financial aspects of engineering projects is just as important as understanding the technical aspects. You need to be able to approach the work from all perspectives without having tunnel vision toward the technical side of things if you want to be a successful engineer and an effective team member.

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This week, we celebrate our engineers—-the makers and doers and minds who inspire our quest to Invent the Future.

In this pursuit, we work day in and day out with some of the industry’s most talented engineers, from the world’s leading service providers and programmers. This National Engineers Week, we’re featuring a few stories and their approach to engineering, because it’s these unique perspectives that enrich our own work at ARRIS.

Here’s to all the engineers who inspire great things, for our industry, around the world, and within ourselves.

Marco Aurelio Rodrigues, Globosat – Engineer

Check out our first interview below with Marco Aurelio Rodrigues, Engineer at Globosat.

What inspired you to become an engineer?

I think that it was my hunger for technology and constant search for solutions that service mankind.

What does a day in the life of an engineer at Globosat look like?

A day of an engineer life at Globosat is very busy, because we deal with a variety of technologies and systems, and most of them work interconnected or dependent on each other. We also experience different brand new technologies and products, and sometimes we work with prototypes helping the industry to develop new products.

How do you collaborate with ARRIS engineers to solve industry challenges?

Our relationship with ARRIS is very open and sincere, and that is very import to development on both sides.

What are the most common challenges that engineers in our industry face?

For me, it is good practices of IT resources and keeping updated on what’s new in the industry.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone told you when you were pursuing a career in engineering?

You’ll never stop studying. Every day, you’ll find something new.

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Today is an important day for broadband users in Australia. NBN Co, the Government Business Enterprise that operates the National Broadband Network, selected ARRIS to design and build its next-generation Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) broadband network. The project is set to revolutionize Australia’s broadband network by providing access to high-speed, reliable broadband services to homes and business premises across Australia.

NBN Co becomes the latest broadband company to invest significantly in HFC technology, and joins a group of industry leading companies that have HFC as the very core of the network – companies such as Comcast (US), Liberty Global (EMEA), Taiwan Broadband Communications (APAC), SK Broadband (S Korea/APAC).

The initiative involves a suite of products and services from ARRIS, including the flagship E6000TM CER along with a number of additional ARRIS product lines, including: ARRIS Access Technologies and Supplies (ATS) products (CORWave forward path transmitters and OM4100 optical receivers) and Assurance solutions for service assurance.

ARRIS Global Services was selected to counsel NBN Co during the deployment and integration phase. In addition, the Global Services team will assist NBN Co in managing and supporting its network and customers moving forward.

We look forward to working closely with NBN Co to deliver a world-class broadband service to people living and working in Australia.

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This week, Rapid TV News covered ARRIS’s end of year results, noting that 2014 was a particularly strong year for the company thanks to the introduction of several key products, significant market share gains and important design wins scheduled for launch later in 2015.

Separately, Broadband TV Newshighlighted ARRIS’s role in the development of the next generation 4K DVB Video Gateway program with Liberty Global, as announced by our CEO Bob Stanzione on an investor call earlier this week.

In other industry news, the New York Postincluded coverage of new Nielsen figures that show that traditional TV usage among millennials (viewers ages 18 to 34) continues to decline, falling 10.6 percent between September and January.

Finally, the broadcast division of the International Olympic Committee does not have plans for 4K TV broadcasting of the 2016 Rio Olympics according to a story from The Hollywood Reporter.

Check back next week for the latest industry news.

ARRIS claims ‘outstanding’ 2014 (Feb. 19) By Staff Writer, Rapid TV News: Gaining momentum as its own entity following a spate of acquisitions a year ago, ARRIS has announced that 2014 was a particularly strong year for its range of IP, video and broadband technology.

Arris secures role in Liberty 4K Gateway (Feb. 19) By Julian Clover, Broadband TV News: It’s emerged that Arris has secured a major role in the development of the successor to Liberty Global’s Horizon product.

Millennials ditching their TV sets at a record rate (Feb. 16) By Claire Atkinson, New York Post: So far this season, younger viewers, the most important audience for advertisers, have ditched their TV sets at more than double the rate of previous years, new Nielsen figures show.

SVoD revenues set to grow fivefold (Feb. 17) By Staff Writer, Digital TV Europe: There will be a five-fold increase in SVoD revenues across emerging markets between 2014 and 2019, according to new research.

4K Ultra HD TV Broadcasting Not on the Agenda for Rio Olympics, Says IOC (Feb. 18) By Adrian Pennington, The Hollywood Reporter: While the consumer electronics industry heavily promoted 4K Ultra HD TVs last month at CES, the broadcast division of the International Olympic Committee has “no plans for 4K TV broadcasting” during the 2016 Rio Olympics, the next major globally televised event.